SARASOTA — Southwest Florida Water Management District officials listened to nearly an hour of pleas from city leaders before rejecting their request to prioritize Punta Gorda’s grant application for a reverse-osmosis water-treatment plant.

Officials from the water district, commonly known as Swiftmud, on Thursday told members of the Punta Gorda City Council, the utilities advisory committee and staff that the city’s project did not meet Swiftmud’s “multijurisdictional” criteria for funding.

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